ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIII, Issue 111, 12 May 1902, Page 2

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

' (From Our Special Correspondent.)

LONDON, April 4.

The "Capitalist" thinks that taken altogether' the Auckland Electric Tramways Company seems a very good lemon to squeeze, but -that there is little left for the shareholders beyond the rind.

The report of tbe directors of the Australian and New Zealand Mortgage Company, Limited, for 1901, to be submitted at the meeting on the 7th inst., shows a balance to the debit of profit and loss account of £14,538. £7,500 has been transferred to the credit of this account from the reserve fund, making, with a balance of £217 brought forward from last account, an amount of £7,717 towards meeting the deficiency above alluded to, and leaving a debit balance of £6,820.

Mr W- T- Novell, who has been touring with Mr Weedon Grossmith in "The Night of the Party," has accepted a telegraphic offer to rejoin Mr Eobert Brought company in Australia.

Mr Ewart S*. Grogan, with reference to Mi- Jonathan Hutchinson's opinion that the cause of leprosy in South Africa is badly-cured salt fish, points out two remarkable factsAmong the thousands of natives on the Stiores of the Great Lakes and in the Upper Nile, who live almost exclusively on a diet of putrefied, suncured salt fish, he never saw a case of leprosy. In the valleys running up into the foothills of the Chiperoni range, there are "entire villages of lepers, although the tribes in nowise depend upon fish as a staple article of food. The natives are also sufferers from goitre.

The National Eifle Association has received over £600 and four handsome cups towards the Coronation prices at the Bisley meeting in June, and it is expected that tbe value of the competition will be at least £1000 exclusive of trophies. The ranges will probably be 200, 500, and 600 yards. It will be open to every British subject. Provided a sufficient amount is at the disposal of the Association, tbe competition will be divided into five sections—Army, navy, volunteer, colonial, and civilian. The King's prize will be as usual tbe blue-ribbon of the gathering, and its value is expected to be quite as great as last year, when £2,420 was distributed amongst five hundred prizewinners. Another new and admirable feature will be a long range team competition at 800, 900, and 1000 yards, open to teams of 12 from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

M What's in a name? A good deal when it is to be attached to a main thoroughfare in the heart of the Empire. The L.C-C. has not yet decided what to call the new street in course of construction from Holborn to the Strand, and has postponed the consideration of its Committee's report on the subject. That Committee recommends that the straight part of the thoroughfare from Holborn to tbe site of the Olympic Theatre should be named "Edward VII. Street." This suggestion meets with universal aporoval. For the crescent street to connect the main thoroughfare with the Strand the Committee suggests tbe name "Gladstone Crescent." as a site at the eastern extremity of the crescent has been allotted for tbe statesman's memorial. Fierce opposition is being manifested to the latter name,- and the perpetuation of tbe memory of the man whose name is identified with the Khartoum tragedy, the disgraceful Majuba surrender, and tbe attempt to disintegrate the Empire. Many other names have been proposed, such as "Alfred," "Banes," and the colourless "Council Broadway." As there are so many theatres in the vicinity, and no main London thoroughfare bears the name "Shakespeare," that name has many advocates. "Bhodesia," too, has been mooted in memory of the Great Man of South Africa. Mr C C. Wakefield, F.E.G.S., makes the very natural suggestion that the new thoroughfare should commemorate the loyalty and sacrifice of the colonies in the war, and bear the names of "Canadian Crescent" and "Austral Avenue."

The sudden arrival and accidental detention of Lord Bosebery in Paris at a time when the Duke of Devonshire, Sir Henry Campbell-Banner-*man, and Dr. Leyds happened to be favouring the French capital with their presences, caused the press wags of that city to deduce immediately that an important peace negotiation was about to take place. The "Figaro" gravely informed its readers that Leyds "comes to Paris to communicate President Kruger's final condition to the English Liberals," and oth^r papers indulged in equally foolish inaccuracies. Sir Henry Camp-bell-Banucrman may possibly have gone to Paris with an idea of talking peace in a wayside inn with the Kruger faction, but the Duke of Devonshire war, Easter holiday-making pure and simple, and Lord Kosebery's visit was intended only to last a few hours, he being on his way to join his yacht at Marseilles for a cruise. The sudden death of one of the yacht's officers, however, caused delay in her arrival, and, being notified by wire of the occurrence, Lord Bosebery decided to spend the extra time thrown on his hands in Paris.

What Sir Henry Campbell-Banner-man does in the French capital will interest few besides himself. He and Dr. Leyds may talk the year round, but neither of them can alter the course of events in South Africa one hair's breath, and this fact even the "liners" of the boulevards ought to know by this time.

Mr. Geoffrey Drage calls attention at length in the "Times" to tbe Queensland codification of the criminal law and procedure, and to similar

codes in other colonies, and suggests

a small Eoyal Commission of energetic men, presided over by someone familiar with foreign and colonial jurisprudence to codify the English law in all its branches. This, he says, would be the greatest boon that any Government could confer on the Empire; we sho id.\ before long have one sj'tem of law accessible $nd intelli-

gible to all, of the greatest advantage to a commercial community.

But the Old Country will not move in a hurry like that. In 1880 Sir James Stephen s criminal code was introduced, but never passed. Perhaps if agitation for codification becomes keen, the Government five years hence may appoint a Eoyal Commission to consider the question. In the usual course they would report, and their report be pigeon-holed. After another fifteen years another Commission might be appointed, and report to the same effect. Possibly a Bill to codify a small branch of the law might be drafted and shelved. And at last, after say a quarter of a century, we might get some small instalment of codification. Mr. Drajre thinks the codification of English law could be completed in ten years. He is much too dashing.

The holiday season has given room to thos-3 correspondents of the "Times" who wish to ventilate their views on the remount question. Among these is Mr. Charles Cowper, who gi?e^ the result of his experience in New South Wales. When he was in the Government there, he says, he found that tbe system of having horses gathered from all parts by the dealers to be inspected by an officer and a vet on a certain day was a failure. A change resulted, and horses have since been purchased principally from the breeders, the superintendents in each district being- allowed to pick up the best horses when suitable at from £15 fo £20 a head. He attributes The decline of the stamp of Australian horse to the falling off of the export trade, and the colonists turning their attention more to breeding racers and draught stock, but is convinced that the colonists would once more breed the best type of horses if only they were assured of a certain market, and suggests that .the English Government should agree to purchase so many three-year-old colts every year say for ten years at a fixed price. • He considers that a good stock horse which will find food for himself is the best horse for an emergency such as the present, and also insists on the necessity of the riders being good horse masters, instancing how General Hutton once showed t-ven the bushroen how, with care of the horses, stages might be made in the Australian bush which up to that time had been considered impossible. 3*

Hearty votes of thanks are usually the only tokens of appreciation which fall to the lot of directors of even very successful public companies, but the shareholders of the Bank of Australasia, ./ho met for their general meeting last Thursday, were so well pleased with the results disclosed by the report and the speech from the chair that they accepted without hesitation (the suggestion of one of their number to increase the directorial remuneration from £5000 to £6000 per annum. Their generosity did not end there, for later another shareholder proposed that as tbe Bank's reserve fund was now virtually a million pounds, the shareholders should mark the Coronation year, and testify their appreciation of the staff by giving tbe employees a bonus of five or ten per cent. This idea also found favour with tne meeting, and later on an extraordinary meeting is to be held to firive effect to the shareholders' desire to acknowledge the value of their directors' services and those of the staff. The directors were asked at the meeting to consider whether they could not indulge in a rather more lavish distribution of the profits, several shareholders considering thatto place £60,000 out of £ 140,----000 earned to reserve was rather hard on them now that that fund had reached £995,000, but Sir Charles Freemantle evidently considers that the Bank has not yet reached that pitch of reserve fund inpregnability which will justify "up to the hilt" distributions of prr *■?, and for some time to come tb t -Shareholders, if they are content to be guided by the present Board, will have to be satisfied with sharing out about foursevenths of the profits earned. On the present occasion this represent 10 per cent, per annum, which is "a happy issue" in these days when "safety" in investment usually means under five per cent, return on capital.

Commenting approvingly on the protest of Eear-Admiral Sir James Bruce against the suggestion recently made that each of the great Commonwealths of Greater Britain should have its separate Heel; of ships of war, the "Morning Post" says the adoption of such a proposal would be fatal to tbe unity of the Empire, and, therefore, to the Empire itself. It contends that the first principles of strategy require that the Empire should have for purposes of war "one fleet, one flag," not a federation of local fleets. "One fleet, one nag," is the ideal for which Sir James Bruce contends, and, according to the "Post," it is the ideal of every seaman and of every Imperial statesman. "Let the Government, by all means, associate with itself in this matter the Governments of all the great colonies; let the Admiralty by an Imperial office: let the King's navy be a service open to all the. King's British subjects of whatever land; let Australians, Canadians, and South Africans be encouraged and herped to become seamen and naval officers. But, at any rate, let the navy be one service, with one flag and one mission—to keep that flag supreme on the ocean against every challenge. It does not matter where the ships are built; it would be infinitely desirable that their crews should be a mixture of men from all parts of the King's dominions; it would be even more desirable that Canada, Australia and South Africa should provide their share, or more than their share, of captains and of admirals. But the unity of the service is the best guarantee of the unity Of the Empire. The place for tbe big fleets is in the presence of the enemy's fleets; there, and there only, can Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa be defended; there, and there only, can Great Britain strike effectual blows for the protection of her independence and her Empire."

With a fine disregard of the exigencies Of mail day, Lord Strathcona has convened a meeting of Agents-General for this afternoon to discuss questions connected with the Coronation as, for instance, the allocation of seats on the stands to be erected for the accommodation of colonial visitors by .the Works Department and co-operation with the .Westaa^stei. B.ots_®_. am*

thorities in the decoration of Vic-toria-street, where all the State Agents, save Mr Grainger, have their offices. The Westminster authorities, I may mention, have t>lg schemes on hand, and there is some talk of spending £15,000 in decorating the Eoyal route through the borough. It seems, however, that, owing to some omission in the charter of incorporation, the Borough Council cannot spend a penny in this direction out of the rates, and that the carrying out of the decoration schemes in view will depend on private munificence. The main idea of one scheme for the decoration of the route through Westminster would, if carried out in cooperation with the Agents-General, enable the colonies to make a brave show in Victoria-street at a small expense to the States concerned. This is the scheme submitted by Mr Vigers, the cost of carrying out which, in its entirety, would be about £10,000. The central idea thereof is to have every part ot the Empire represented by a series of arches, which would span the thoroughfares at various points. One would be symbolic of India, a second of Canada, and a third of Australasia. Each, full of colour, would have special features. The Indian arch would be treated in white, blue, and gold. Between the two sets of pillars forming the gateway a canopy of blue and gold, surmounted by an Imperial crown, would hang, and on each side a miniature mosque would rise. The arches, which would represent Australia and Canada would be of Gothic design, with one large and two small spans. Each would bear emblems peculiar to the country represented. In addition to these there would be one to symbolise the British Isles. Besides the Imperial arms there would appear on it the shields of the largest cities of the United Kingdom, and with the floral and other decorations the effect would undoubtedly be picturesque. But I suppose there is no chance of Australia and New Zealand assisting in the erection of one triumphal arch representative of the whole of Australasia; indeed, I have small hopes of seeing even the Commonwealth figure decoratively for the occasion as one and indivisible.